


Sonic Says...

by NeoNeo1212



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Bullying, Hurt/Comfort, References to Autism, References to Freedom Planet, References to Spark the Electric Jester, Self-Acceptance, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Insert, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29411448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoNeo1212/pseuds/NeoNeo1212
Summary: Never.Give.Up.





	Sonic Says...

Sonic the Hedgehog was going out for his usual run one day when he passed by someone who seemed to be little down in the dumps near a pond. Sonic, never willing to leave anyone until they learn to smile again, went to go check on him.

This is what transpired between the two.

Sonic walks up to the sad stranger, a boy about twelve years old perhaps, and asks "Hey, you okay there, kiddo? You look like things could be a little happier."

The boy responds harshly with, "I do, and it's none of your business!"

The hedgehog coldly replies back with, "Alright. See ya."

"W-Wait! I'm sorry, that was rude of me," the boy immediately returns. "Y-you're right, I really do need someone to talk to."

Sonic's plan of reverse psychology worked and he merrily says, "Good!" Sonic walks over chummily, sits down next to the boy and asks calmly, "What's eatin' ya?"

The boy hesitates to answer.

"Lemme guess," Sonic proposes, "some loser's bullying you."

"A lot of them are," the boy answers then.

"How many are we talkin'?"

"A whole community."

"Yeesh," Sonic appropriately exclaims, "That's an awfully big word you're usin' dontcha' think?!"

"It's the truth," the boy coldly responds with a glare.

Sonic asks, "Whatcha' do?"

The boy replies with, "I don't even know anymore."

Sonic decided to change some aspects of the conversation then if he was going to get this ball rolling. "Tell me a little about yourself," he sincerely asks.

The boy answers while shakily "I...I like to make things."

An enthused Sonic entertains with, "Cool! I got a little bro who likes to make stuff, too!"

"Good for you," the boy answers back bitterly, "tell me how good he's got it."

Sonic is reasonably taken aback somewhat, but he says regardless, "Oh, he's wonderful! He and I love traveling in this hi-tech biplane he cooked up! He knows how to also build hoverboards and bikes and skates, he's a real sweet mechanic, and..."

"And he can't please anyone worth a darn," the boy interrupts.

Sonic understandably is confused now and wonders, "W-whoa, where did that come from?"

The boys sighs and even winces in what appears to be pain. It's almost as if he is about to cry. Nevertheless, he finds the courage or, at least attempts to, to tell his story.

"I like to make video games all on my own," admits the boy. "You're little bro sounds like a prodigy in his own right. Anyway, I made this series about a marten-like character who runs really fast and can do all kinds of cool stunts."

The boy grabbed his phone and brought all the games he has made and how much his franchise has grown.

An already enthralled Sonic says, "That's cool!"

"But," the boy hesitates again.

"But what?"

"But...I'm a failure now...," and the boy starts to gently weep.

Sonic continues with, "Why are you a failure?"

The boy confesses, "The last game I made didn't make anyone happy."

"Why," Sonic continued.

"I wanted to do something different, but I didn't have enough time to flesh everything out. I didn't have a choice but to release the game anyway since the deadline was too close."

Sonic nodded his head in understanding.

"The people who liked my games...they all betrayed me...," and now the boy begins to weep harder.

Now Sonic understood what the boy meant when he implied that his little bro couldn't please anyone. Sonic bluntly says, "That sucks."

"I still make games, but I don't know what the point is in doing so anymore when everyone is always yanking my chain! If I try something new, I get attacked! If I stick to something I already tried, I get attacked! I'm a slave to these people!"

Sonic had heard enough and decided to let out his inner freedom fighter by saying, "Then fight."

"What?!"

"You need to fight back against those people."

"But..."

"But nothing," Sonic asserts. "You have the right to decide your own destiny, nobody else!"

The boy then becomes enraged and shouts, "YOU DON'T GET IT!!"

"Get what, that people don't want you to be happy because you're not their toy anymore?"

The boy snaps, "They want to ruin my life! They don't want me to grow and learn from my past failures! They don't even want me to have friends! THEY WANT ME TO QUIT ON MYSELF!!"

Sonic asserts again with, "Then you need to cut them all loose!"

"Huh?"

Sonic explains, "You're right, those idiots have gone full Annie Wilkes on you, and if anything you owe it to yourself to fight for your freedom!"

"HOW?!"

"Let's take a few steps back." Sonic explains some more. "These guys think your games are bad, right? They think you're a failure, right?"

The boy winces again, "Right..."

Sonic reveals, "That's their problem."

"What do you mean?"

Sonic sits the boy down again and says, "Listen closely. The first thing you need to do is take all those nasty words like "bad" and "failure" and even "good" and "success" out of your dictionary. "Quality" is another buzzword that needs to go, too, now that you mention it. From what I understand, even knowing that this one game wasn't going to work out well, you still tried your best, and you what? That's all that matters."

"I still don't get it."

"People today love to shoot the messenger and punish failure with every inch of cruelty they can manage," Sonic continued to explain. "The idea that you're a bad person or designer or whatever if you make something that didn't work out as planned is so pervasive that it'll make your head explode."

The boy then looked at himself for a bit.

"Okay, let's look back at everything you've done," Sonic then insisted.

The boy nodded.

"Here's one game that you decided to give the main character a rival, the other side of the coin, right? That's cool. You decided to give him a weapon, right? That's cool. You decided to give him his own game that's a little more serious in tone, right? That's cool. From I can tell, you could've done a little better with some technical areas, and that's still cool!"

The boy then says, "But it didn't work out as planned..."

Sonic exclaims, "GOOD!"

"Why is that good?"

"Because two things, A) it doesn't matter, and B) you've found the next best thing!"

The boy rightly frustrated insists, "I STILL don't get it."

Sonic patted the boy on the back and said, "And I don't expect you to right away. Trust me when I say that I've been where you are now. What I'm trying to say is that you've found a way to evolve."

The boy repeats with, "They don't WANT ME to evolve, though, and they want to take away everything that made him so unique in the first place."

"Mm-hm," Sonic sarcastically nods and then bluntly declares, "They are worthless, then."

"Why are they worthless?"

"If all you're gonna be doing is running around in the past, that's all you're gonna be doing. But if you're always looking forward, you'll always be looking forward."

Believe it or not, the boy managed to crack a smile.

Sonic exclaims happily, "Huh? HUH? See, I got ya smilin'!"

"But..."

"Oh, boy, here we go again."

"Now they're saying that I only appeal to..."

"Appeal to who?"

"People with autism..."

There was a silence that lasted for at least two and half minutes...followed by Sonic falling over laughing his head off. The boy would share a light giggle with him as well.

"That's...Th-that's...," the more Sonic tried to contain himself, the more it would burst out, uncontrollable laughter.

The boy implied "It's really stupid, huh?"

"Among many other things," Sonic finally recomposed himself. "On one hand, yeah, that's completely asinine as to be invalid on the spot. On the other hand though, you'll be amazed by how many who legitimately share those characteristics own that proudly. I say own it."

The boy questioned, "Own what?"

"Kid," Sonic rested a firm reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder, "when you own your flaws, another word I should've mentioned to be removed, nobody can even pretend to dream of touching you. Flaws, if you ask me, are a fake story we all have an unhealthy habit of telling ourselves just to give us some meaning. It takes a heck of a lot more courage and empathy to reconcile than what any of those dorks will lever have. When you learn to let go of those stories, you'll find out that they're just memories of certain events and nothing more."

"Wow,' the boy was gently awestruck.

"It's so much easier than your making it out to be."

The boy the said "I still have one more question."

"Shoot."

"What," the boy wished to know, "makes me so special? I've seen plenty of other people lose something and bounce back from it like nothing ever happened like you said, now that I think about it. What makes me so worthy of all this hate?"

The hedgehog resiliently planted a foot on the ground and said, "That's what bullies do...because they're scared. They're afraid of you basically becoming a threat to anything that makes them valid. They want control over a narrative that makes them feel that they're in charge."

"They're also scared that if other people keep buying my games, it means that'll give me an excuse to be lazy," the boy then insinuated.

"They're twisted," the hedgehog bluntly answered. "Do they really believe that? Again, a narrative for control. No matter how you slice it, some people refuse to be happy unless they're seeing others miserable. If anything, they're the ones that need to do the rising above because they are the ones that are so low."

The boy felt that he had no more questions to ask. He may not have been content at the moment, but at least there was some clarity into his predicament.

"Keep running," said Sonic.

The boy looked up at the hedgehog.

"Don't waste your precious time in this world wondering what could be, should be, or could've been or should've been; just do it. Victory or defeat doesn't matter in the slightest. Nothing matters in the slightest."

The boy gazed down at his navel with eyes wide open as if to say, my God, he's right. All this time he's been afraid of the unknown. All this time he's been afraid of false perception. He lost the strength to be cool because he stopped believing in himself. It was time to cancel the pity-party; it was time for him to be him again.

"You're right," the boy spoke. "No more crying, no more running except towards the future," he said. "I'm done listening to what's not my heart. I have to keep fighting, I have to stay true to my spirit." The boy then said, "Besides..."

The hedgehog raised a brow.

"I hear that there's this purple dragon girl and yellow-fuzzy creature with a jester's hat. They can hate me all they want," the boy said, "for all I know, those two eventually are gonna come along and take my place, and then what'll they do?"

The hedgehog presented his trademark smirk and nodded contently.

There's never a way to stop the cool.


End file.
